Last week I linked to an article that mocked education research as a circus, to which some understandably took offense. Here's a recent ASBJ article on the same topic that may be more balanced but is no less scathing (Politics and Research). Advocates have learned to attack research methods ever more swiftly, even as research has gotten better, some say. Think tank "research" has all but eclipsed academic research in the policy debate in Washington. Not that better research would make a difference. Remember class size? Politics, budgets, ideology, and -- my favorite -- personal experience -- trump even the best studies. But there are a couple of folks out there doing good work, we're told -- not the usual suspects.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Funders Heart TFA - But Not For What TFA Corps Members Actually Do

Lincoln Caplan provides us with some impressive new numbers in his recent Slate magazine article on Wendy Kopp's Teach For America: Almost $500 million raised, a goal of 4,000 new teachers per year by 2010, a 98 percent acceptance rate, annual revenues nearing $120 million (up from $10.5 million seven years ago). Caplan names TFA the country's largest reform effort in the K-12 education space.

I've got no argument with any of that. But Caplan seems to buy into the idea that TFA is "leveraging" widespread school reform success. That I just don't see. I don't think TFA deserves all the credit for what TFA alums do after they leave. (I don't think TFA alums think so, either.) I don't think the direct impact of TFA's classroom corps members is nearly as long or strong as it could, despite the popularity of the program. And, I don't think that the cumulative effect of TFA alumni is much more than a drop in the bucket when it comes to improving public education, writ large.

To be sure, Caplan alludes to some of this. He refers to the TFA "fable." He points out that no one has yet written a major investigative take-down of the organization (someone has, actually, it just hasn't been published yet). He jokes that depending on who you talk to, TFA is either Google -- or Enron. But Caplan's main focus is how TFA is shaping up to be a powerful and self-sustaining nonprofit institution. Mine is whether TFA is -- or will anytime soon be -- shaping up to have anywhere near as big an impact on public education as its accolades (and revenues) suggest.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 26, 2007

Time Writer Calls Education Research A "Circus"

"Education experts seem to concur on almost nothing," says this recent Time magazine article. "Research in the field is so politicized and contradictory that you can find almost any study to support your view. If economics is a 99-1 science, education is a 1-99 circus." Ouch. The article also dismisses the latest Jack Jennings public-private differences study as Democratic advocacy, pointing out that private schools run by holy orders (not regular religious schools) make a difference on student achievement, and that SAT scores do show public-private differences even after you control for SES. Apparently SAT scores reveal critical thinking, while regular old achievement scores just track rote memorization.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 25, 2007

DonorsChoose On The Colbert Report

Last night's Colbert Report interview with the founder of Craigslist included much discussion of DonorsChoose.org, the organization that links donors and individual classrooms directly:

Very impressive.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All Of Bush's Worst Ideas (Except Perhaps NCLB) Came From AEI

If you're wondering why the DC education blogs are so quiet today, it's because all the best-dressed education folks are gathered at a big AEI event on the supply side of school reform -- the "intriguing and daring" reformistas who are attracting all the attention (and funding) despite their small scale, mixed results, etc. Check out the agenda and the papers here.

Or, if you're more in the mood for a big picture view of things, check out Timonthy Noah's recent critique of AEI in Slate here. While not focused on education particularly, Noah claims that most of the Bush administration's worst ideas have come from AEI. Noah also tells the story of AEI's rise into a more ideological, glamorous think tank (past Heritage and its liberal counterpart Brookings) whose so-called scholars are everywhere on the pundit and media circuit.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 15, 2007

Foundation Bringing $ Bling $ To Education Beat

The Spencer Foundation, which focuses largely on funding academic research, is funding a new $75,000 fellowship for education reporters (and other interested parties) who want to spend a year at Columbia University's J-School and produce a "long-form reporting project [book, magazine article, newspaper series] to advance the understanding of the American education system." The deadline is January 31, 2008. Three lucky fellows will be named by March 1, 2008. This isn't Spencer's first try at boosting the quality of education coverage. Its 2000 annual report lists similar, though much smaller, grants given to UMichigan and Harvard for education journalism fellowships. Columbia has similar programs for business reporters, among other things.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 12, 2007

The Genius Behind Teach For America

Today's big awards news is Al Gore getting the Nobel Prize for his efforts on global warming, but last month it was the announcement of this year's MacArthur Foundation's "genius" grants. As you may recall, one of the genius grants went to an educator. Just not the one you would have thought would get it. Click below to get a sneak peek at what should soon be up on the Huffington Post.

Continue reading "The Genius Behind Teach For America" »

Posted by Alexander Russo at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

October 9, 2007

White House, Civil Rights Group Pump Up The NCLB Volume

Thanks to a friend for passing along the attendees list for the White House NCLB list, which features pro-NCLB civil rights groups (Wade Henderson, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights President, Janet Murguía, National Council of La Raza President, Marc Morial, National Urban League President, William L.Taylor, Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights Chairman). Not all civil rights groups support NCLB, but these guys do. And they're obviously trying to keep the pressure on to move forward with NCLB reauthorization. This is all fast-moving stuff, though, since the event wasn't even on the EdSec's calendar for this week when they sent it out on Friday.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 4, 2007

What Makes TFA So Special? It's Not What You Think

I have my fingers crossed that there's going to be another even more interesting piece on TFA coming out in the very near future. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, there's a fascinating and somewhat frightening discussion about the Times Magazine article going on in Chicago -- with some commenters pointing out that TFA is better than nothing and others calling it a "glorified substitute pool" for struggling schools.

A kind reader also sent me this new (to me) report from Stanford (PDF here): "Conventional wisdom says that scaling social innovation starts with strengthening internal management capabilities. This study of 12 high-impact nonprofits [including TFA], however, shows that real social change happens when organizations go outside their own walls and find creative ways to enlist the help of others."

Posted by Alexander Russo at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Forget NCLB -- It's All About Spending

Forget those puny authorizing committees -- it's all about budget and appropriations. That's where the money (and an awful lot of policymaking) happens. That's why New America is holding an event today on the latest FY 2008 spending developments, featuring the House budget committee's Barbara Chow and New America's Heather Rieman (right).

Posted by Alexander Russo at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 2, 2007

Vote Edwards, Dodd, Says New America Education Wonk

Education issues are nowheresville, writes New America's Sara Mead (here). And that is unlikely to change. But at least Edwards' plan doesn't eviscerate NCLB, says Mead. And at least he has one. Most of the others -- except Dodd -- don't have any real K-12 education proposal (beyond bashing the current law). And they probably won't show up with one anytime soon, despite past promises. Why get into that mess when college costs and universal preschool are so much more fun -- and only 1 percent of Americans rank education as their top priority?

Posted by Alexander Russo at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 28, 2007

Why Teach For America?

Remember the headline about Teach For America that came out in The Onion a couple of years ago (TFA Chews Up, Spits Out Another Ethnic-Studies Major)? Well, TFA’s come a long way since then, but it is no less frustratingly problematic.

According to a new article (Why Teach For America) in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, the original TFA was small and marked by its idealism and its focus on getting bright people into classrooms and doing some immediate good for poor children. The “new” TFA is much much larger and features corporate-style recruiting efforts and a hyper-aggressive PR operation.Folks from the early years probably couldn’t get accepted to TFA if they applied today, and it’s not clear that many of them would want to.

More important, TFA now wants to be judged both as a short-term intervention and as a broad-based reform movement whose scope includes everything from KIPP to Michelle Rhee to scores of alums in elected office.This was either part of the plan all along or a slick “re-engineering” of TFA’s original mission to address widespread concerns that putting smart newbies in front of poor kids for two years wasn’t going to solve any real problems.

One big question is whether or not this two-pronged approach is fair or not to TFA teachers and the kids and colleagues they work with during their brief teaching stints.Another is whether TFA should have been focusing on expanding its members’ longevity and impact in the classroom rather than on increasing its numbers of districts and candidates.Last but not least – the verdict is out here – is whether TFA alums are more powerfully involved in school reform than they would have been anyway, and what good comes of it.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Angie Does Global Education

Speaking of saving the world, Angelina Jolie is getting into the act. She announced a $148 million initiative to help educate children in conflict areas at the Clinton Global Initiative on Wednesday in New York City — the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict. The partnership will include commitments to improve educational opportunities for 1+ million conflict-affected children including 350,000 out-of-school children in conflict-affected regions and improving the learning environment for another 690,0000 children in conflict affected regions. The commitments will assist 200,000 Iraqi refugee children and aid than 300,000 children affected by the Darfur genocide. Then she went on to criticize the war in Iraq.

UPDATE: Here's the big quote: ""The entire appeal equals about eight hours of current spending in Iraq. So just a few hours would send 150,000 children to school..."

Posted by Alexander Russo at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 26, 2007

Think Tank Hires Republican Education Staffer With Cool Glasses

Once again living up to its "post-partisan" claims, the New America Foundation has snagged itself another real, live Republican education guy to help Michael Dannenberg, Sara Mead, and all the rest in the education shop. (Justin King moved over to another part of the foundation.) The new guy's name is Jason Delisle, and he's a former Senate budget committee guy for Judd Gregg (R-NH) and before that an education LA for Tom Petri (R-WI). He's going to be research director. Far as I know, that makes New America the only "nonpartisan" think tank / advocacy outfit to have both D and R folks on education staff, though of course there are always rumors swirling around about Petrilli. Cool glasses, man. Welcome.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 25, 2007

Deborah Bial: An Education "Genius"

It isn't every year that there's an educator who gets one of these MacArthur "genius" grants ($500k just for being excellent), and so it seems worth noting that this year's awards out today include one for Deborah Bial, who founded the Posse Foundation. Congrats, condolences.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 21, 2007

Andy Rotherham's Tony Soprano Moment

So I got a phone call today from Andy. It wasn't social. He said things would "get ugly" if I wrote more about his brief stint at the White House (as I have in the past). And he wasn't just talking about writing a nasty blog post. He said he'd try and get me fired from EdWeek and blacklisted from other writing projects. Who knows -- he might succeed. The guy knows a lot of people. And not everything I've worked on has been 100 percent successful. (Most especially an ill-fated charter schools report I did for Andy at PPI.) Funny thing is, I was thinking about taking the day off writing about him before I got the call. He's not fun to spar with like he used to be. After that, however, I didn't really have a choice.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

September 20, 2007

New Schools Venture Fund Hires A "Journalist In Residence"

Steven Barrie-Anthony has what might be the perfect job. He's the "journalist in residence" for the New Schools Venture Fund, which means he gets to write about school reform but doesn't have to pay all his bills selling articles to ever-stingier and harder-to-get into papers and magazines. I'm so jealous -- assuming he can say things that are critical of NSVF-funded projects. Here he sings this the praises of Green Dot. Maybe they need someone else to help out?

Posted by Alexander Russo at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 19, 2007

Where's The Children's Defense Fund On NCLB?

Back in the day, it seemed like the Children's Defense Fund was the advocacy organization when it came to kids. They didn't focus just on school reform, but they had a small education shop and were pretty much everywhere on this set of issues. You hardly hear anything about them starting in the early 1990s. They'd gotten so weak on school issues at least by 2001 that the Bush administration was able to steal the motto, "No child left behind," that CDF had apparently coined. I don't know why I care -- I'm sure we'd disagree on NCLB, and/or they'd be as ineffective as most groups in DC (ie, pretty much entirely). But they, unlike the Trust or CCCR, had a big, Sierra Club-size membership. Or so it seemed.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Beatification Of Klein

He must be on his way to sainthood -- I can't find any imperfections here: From Microsoft case to NY schools.

Previous Klein-related posts here and here .

Posted by Alexander Russo at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 18, 2007

NYC Wins Broad Prize For Urban Districts

It's not officially announced until noon, but early word from the NY Sun has it that New York City -- a finalist for three years previously -- has finally won the Broad Prize for urban school districts this year. The other contenders? Bridgeport Public Schools, Conn., Long Beach Unified School District, Calif., Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Northside Independent School District in northwest San Antonio. Congrats, condolences.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 14, 2007

Kanye West Song Might Make Good Anthem For Ed In '08

I was supposed to show you the Kanye West's Ed In '08 promo, which apparently is getting lots of YouTube attention, but was so bored and disappointed by the spot -- perfunctory, obvious, unimaginably forgettable -- that I needed a jolt of West's live performance at the VMA of his new song, Stronger -- whose opening chorus (see below) might actually be a good anthem for Ed In '08.

N-n-now th-that that don't kill me, can only make me stronger.
I need you to hurry up now, cuz I can't wait much longer.
I know I got to be right now, I can't get much stronger (wronger?)
Man I been waiting all night now, that's how long I been on you.
I need ya right now. I need ya right now

Posted by Alexander Russo at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 13, 2007

Secretary Right & The Hoff

Seething with indignation (if, as usual, not entirely making sense), here's what Andywonk has to say about his love of Hoff, my loose grasp of time and space, etc: Hoff, Russo, & Interns.

The subtext [of Andy's post], as per usual: "I must be right. I am always right. Right, right, right. No one can be more right than I am. I am...Mr. Right. No, that's not right. I am...King Right. No, no one likes kings. I am...Secretary Right? Yesss."

Then, in practically his next breath, Andy swoops in with a late, long, and obvious post about the NEA and Miller. Oy. Who's paying for him to do this, again?

UPDATE: Andy takes note of this post but doesn't seem to recognize that the "I must be right" bit (above) is a lampoon of his always-rightness, not a tantrum on my part. You got that, I know, but I'm adding brackets and quotation marks to help out the others.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mahatma Kozol

Those crafty folks at the Fordham Foundation aren't first out of the gate with this partial fast thing, letting the rest of us do their work for them, but they get credit for perhaps the funniest (or most tasteless) graphic I've seen on it so far: Mahatma Kozol.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

George Miller Needs New Friends...Like The Ed Sector

Tom Toch peeks out from behind the curtain at the Ed Sector to pipe in that maybe George Miller needs a new friends and family plan these days, and to lament the split with the Ed Trust and bash the CTA for bashing Miller. True that (and more on the CTA-Miller relationship later). However, it's easier for Toch to say nice things about Miller since his outfit doesn't really have to deal with the Hill and try to get the language changed like the Trust does. (The Trust is an advocacy outfit, along with its research, while the Sector is a purely an old-school think tank.) Too bad, since I'm sure the Trust -- and Miller -- would appreciate the extra set of hands. Come on, Ed Sector, get up there on the Hill and make something happen. It takes more than reports and events and smarts to make a real difference in the lives of kids.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 12, 2007

Not Much Hope For NCLB 2.0

"With every passing week, the 110th Congress looks less likely to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the fate of which will therefore hinge on the 2008 election," begins this NRO commentary (No Question Left Behind). "So long as these monster questions lack agreed-upon answers, I don’t see much hope for an NCLB consensus, and I don’t see much hope for NCLB 2.0 anytime soon."

Posted by Alexander Russo at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Real [Education] World, DC

It sounds like the intro to an MTV reality show: "Eight young people leave the classroom, come to Washington, D.C., and are immersed in the world of education policy." But no, it's actually a program run by the folks at Fordham. And, of course, it has its own blog (here).

Posted by Alexander Russo at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 10, 2007

Wall Street Journal Questions Hype & Foundation's Role In Pushing Universal Preschool

First off, don't think you have to pay good money to read yesterday's big Wall Street Journal article on universal preschool. It's all here for free (As States Tackle Poverty, Preschool Gets High Marks).

Once there, you'll see that the piece deals more forthrightly than most with questions about the hype surrounding UPK, and brings up the often-ignored issue of Head Start.

(If UPK is such a great and transformative idea -- so much so that Hillary Clinton wants to nationalize it -- how come Head Start hasn't done the trick and is being bypassed?)

The article also highlights the role of the Pew Charitable Trust, which is paying for programs, research, and advocacy efforts that include NIEER, the Hechinger Institute's work on early education, etc. (Think Gates and small schools seven years ago and you get the idea of what Pew is trying to do here -- and can probably imagine some of the questions that should come up.)

Take note also of how the piece ends with a warning: "There's a great danger here that people are going to rush out and with blind enthusiasm endorse very superficial programs," says one economist who has studied the impact of preschool programs.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

July 30, 2007

Scribbled Notes On A Cocktail Napkin: DFER Happy Hour

Things I learned at the Democrats For Education Reform happy hour on Friday in Manhattan: Green Dot founder Steve Barr is thinking about an "affiliate" model along the lines of KIPP et al in order to continue its expansion to New York and other places (Chicago?). There's yet another Green Dot profile coming out next week -- this one from Forbes. Joe Williams is a gracious host. Why the picture of Lindsay Lohan, the tabloid media's current obsession? Because right now Green Dot founder Steve Barr is education's LiLo-- minus the stints in rehab and ankle bracelet (so far). Or, I may still be drunk from the weekend. Either way, imagine if Barr could get a photo op with Lohan, or -- even better -- an endorsement?

UPDATE: Here's the Forbes article.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 24, 2007

Filling Space At The Quick & The Ed

The use of interns is a delicate thing, which is why by and large I've limited the ones I've worked with to morning news roundups and describing events they attend -- extremely useful tasks but not ones that presume any inside knowledge or policy chops. Not so The Quick & The Ed, which is letting interns post commentary like this recent post, which begins "Flipping through my 10th grade U.S. history text book..." Who has their 10th grade history text nearby? A junior at Brown does. Which is fine -- it's just not something I'm expecting to see published by a relatively new organization that's trying to be taken seriously.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

How Steve Barr Is Not Like The Other Charter Show Ponies

The most interesting thing to me about Steve Barr (Maverick Leads Charge for Charter Schools) is that Barr doesn't seem like he really wants to be the show pony for Gates, Broad, the Andy Sector, and the New Schools Venture Fund -- folks who are trying to create or promote more of what the Times describes as "nonprofit, high-performing charter chains" along the lines of KIPP and Achievement First. He'll take their money and their praise, but he doesn't want to expand as fast as they want him to, whether it's to parts of LAUSD where he has no credibility or across the country.

He sure doesn't want to dress or talk like them, from what little I've seen. He's been around the block. He's seen what happened to small schools, among other ruined efforts. If he can do what he wants and keep to his vision, he'll have threaded a very difficult needle. Sort of reminds me of the crazed but brilliant director Billy Walsh in HBOs "Entourage," whose favorite saying is "suits suck." Right on, Billy, I mean Steve.

UPDATE: Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform makes some interesting if slightly over-enthusiastic observations here, and helpfully rounds up other reactions to the Times story.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

July 18, 2007

University Of Chicago Calls Out Rest Of Higher Education Community

This week's EdWeek includes a noteworthy commentary from UofC education honcho Tim Knowles (pictured) in which he calls out the rest of higher ed for not being more substantially involved in K12 school reform issues (John Dewey for Today). As Knowles describes, the UofC is running a fast-growing network of charter schools, providing support services to another set of regular Chicago public schools, and even have a small practice-based teacher prep program. All this without having a formal ed school.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Civil Rights & Business Groups Join Together To Fight For NCLB

You may or may not think it's significant that there's another new NCLB-related organization. Hard to keep up with how many there are these days. But this one includes a pretty diverse set of players including the Business Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce, La Raza, NCEA, the Citizens' Commission, and the Ed Trust. And it's pretty staunchly in favor of keeping, if not strengthening, NCLB.

Of course, other folks who might help get something done -- CAP, Fordham, New America, CEP, etc. -- aren't signed on, either because they officially "don't do" advocacy or because they think it'd be more fun and/or better for kids if NCLB didn't get strengthened along the lines it was originally enacted. For them, it's all about bringing on the national standards, the increasingly Byzantine growth model ideas, the new programs, the carve-outs and the exceptions. Just getting NCLB done better doesn't really help them any. It's not their thing.

UPDATE: To give you a sense of where the dividing lines are, note that CAP (the Center on American Progress) signed onto last week's warning letter to the House, which I posted about earlier this week, but didn't sign onto this group.

Continue reading "Civil Rights & Business Groups Join Together To Fight For NCLB" »

Posted by Alexander Russo at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

July 17, 2007

Charters Get Their Own Search Engine...iPhone Next.

Those charter folks are so creative, so inventive, so damn entrepreneurial. Now, according to SmartMoney.com, they've got their own search engine: American Charter Schools to Receive Funding from New Search Engine. What will they think of next? Charter school credit cards, I'm guessing, or mileage programs. Special handshakes, too. Maybe their own version of YouTube? Or iPhone.

Posted by Alexander Russo at 9:08 AM |